


The Loudest Discovery of All

by TheDoctorIsIcecube



Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Deaf Character, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 07:57:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8882575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/TheDoctorIsIcecube
Summary: When Matteusz decided to become a sign language interpreter for a Coal Hill Academy student, he hadn't expected Charlie. Charlie is awkward and there's something more to him, and through seeing how badly the hearing students treat him, Matteusz becomes determined to show him the good in humanity.





	

Matteusz looked around the college reception. Empty, but he wasn’t expecting much else. It was very early to come to college, especially on the first day, but he’d been told by the head that he had to meet the new student he would be interpreting for and that said student would be quite early, but he hadn’t been told a proper time. He sat himself down on one of the awkwardly hard plastic chairs, resigning himself to a long wait and idly kicking his feet back and forth. Hopefully this Charlie person would turn up soon- Matteusz wasn’t very good at sitting still. 

After about five minutes of the torture of having a woman at reception staring at him (she’d told him that students weren’t meant to sit in that area, but he wasn’t a student here), a boy came in with the head. That would be Charlie. Matteusz stood up and smiled at him, and lifted his hand in a polite greeting. He glanced at the head, wondering if he would have anything to say or if he was just going to leave the two of them alone to figure everything out. 

“Okay, there he is, Charlie,” the head said, and Matteusz just rolled his eyes. Yes, verbally introduce someone to a sign language interpreter whilst they’re not even looking at you. This man definitely knew what he was doing. Charlie clearly hadn’t even seen the speaking, so Matteusz didn’t bother to translate it. He introduced himself instead, giving Charlie his name with a smile. 

‘I’m Charlie,’ he signed back, but he didn’t smile. He just looked very nervous, and Matteusz couldn’t blame him. He’d be relying on a stranger for his ability to communicate here, and that must be a terrifying prospect. ‘Help, he’s just been talking to me for half an hour but I don’t know what he’s saying.’

Matteusz frowned up at the head, and then looked back to Charlie. ‘He’s an idiot,’ he signed. ‘Give me a minute, I’ll get us out of here.’ He smiled, and then reverted to speaking aloud.”Is okay if Charlie and I look around in private?” 

“Hm? Oh, I suppose. He has tutor period in just over half an hour, though, so don’t forget.” His words were slow and louder than voice level, something that Matteusz was sure would annoy him very soon. He could hear and he could definitely understand English, but people didn’t seem to understand that just because of his accent.

“I won’t,” he assured, and then he beckoned for Charlie to follow him out of reception and into the school. Honestly…what sort of an idiot tried to speak to a deaf person without them looking at him? Surely he must have known that Charlie wouldn’t be able to understand him. 

‘I think he thinks I’m stupid,’ Charlie signed, and Matteusz nodded. He wouldn’t doubt that for a moment. ‘I’ve been to this college for three different tours and enrolment, I know where everything is.’

‘What should we do with the time until tutor, then?’ Matteusz looked around the corridor, wondering if there was anywhere interesting to go. Somehow, he doubted that there would be.

‘We could sit outside and talk for a bit,’ Charlie signed. ‘I don’t know you yet and you’ll be helping with all my lessons.’ Matteusz hoped that Charlie wasn’t doing any subjects in foreign languages or something, because that would be hopeless. He wouldn’t be able to translate that.

He just nodded, heading down the corridor and pushing open the first door he found that led outside. It opened out into a fairly large space, with a couple of picnic benches shoved under a tree at one end. ‘What are your subjects?’ He asked after they’d both sat down. ‘I was never told.’

‘History, physics and maths,’ Charlie signed. That was good, then, because he knew a little bit about physics and history. They were subjects he would have taken. They were subjects with a lot of technical language, but he was sure that he could learn it. Maths might be a little bit harder, but Matteusz was sure that he would manage. There was a lot of maths in physics, so plenty of things were sure to overlap. ‘Are you doing any subjects?’

‘Not exactly.’ Matteusz shrugged. His home life was rather complicated, and not the sort of stuff he wanted to be sharing with a stranger. Well, someone who was almost a stranger, anyway. ‘But I’m doing all my GCSEs this year and I’m going to see if I can do fast track A-Levels.’

Charlie frowned at that, and nodded slowly. Matteusz hoped that he wasn’t going to be one of those people who thought he was stupid for not having taken his GCSEs yet. ‘If you’re doing GCSEs, why are you doing this for me?’

Matteusz was tempted to tell Charlie that he wasn’t doing it for him, he was doing it for the money and the possibility of future independence from his parents. But saying that would be mean, so he didn’t. ‘I like being helpful,’ he said instead. ‘And it’s nice to get out of the house sometimes. Studying at home gets boring after a while.’ 

That explanation seemed to be acceptable to Charlie, because he let out a sort of affirmative hum and nodded. Matteusz looked him over, wondering if he’d ever been able to hear. He knew, however, that it was really rude to ask someone that, so he didn’t. He didn’t want to offend Charlie by asking about something completely irrelevant just for the sake of his own curiosity.

Matteusz glanced at his watch, a little startled by how much time had passed out here already. ‘Your tutor will be starting soon,’ he signed, standing up from the bench. ‘Where is it? No one has shown me around this place yet.’ 

‘It’s up three sets of stairs,’ Charlie signed with a slight grimace. Matteusz smiled. Charlie did not look like the sort to exercise frequently. ‘I think it’s a protest against me saying I didn’t need to be in their disabled classes.’

‘We’d better get there quickly, then.’ Matteusz gestured for Charlie to lead the way, and he did. As they walked, Matteusz took this opportunity to study his new companion from behind. Not in any inappropriate way, of course, just...out of curiosity.

Because he couldn’t deny it; Charlie was pretty attractive. His eyes, which he couldn’t see from behind, but he’d noticed before, were such a light, clear blue, and his hair was a very light brown or a brownish blond. Matteusz couldn’t decide which. And there was plenty to look at from behind as well, Matteusz wouldn’t deny that. He just also wouldn’t admit it out loud. Although, come to think of it, Charlie wouldn’t notice even if he did admit it out loud, but other people would and it just wasn’t fair. He didn’t even know how deaf Charlie was, really. Maybe he would hear.

Matteusz almost lost track of where Charlie was walking, and resolved to keep his thoughts under better control from now on. No more studying his admittedly rather attractive new companion. This was meant to be a job, not a hobby and definitely not a way to pick up a boyfriend.

‘I think this is it,’ Charlie signed. There were a few people gathered outside of the room, but no one looked up when they approached. Probably because neither of them had said anything, at least not verbally. ‘Room 121.’

That was definitely what it said on the door. Matteusz leaned himself back against the railing of the stairs, almost immediately breaking his promise not to look at Charlie anymore. A couple more people had noticed their presence and were coming to say hi, which was where Matteusz probably ought to step in. He tapped Charlie on the shoulder before signing to him. ‘What do you want me to say to people when we’re talking? I know you probably want to make friends.’

Charlie looked over to the people and the smile faded from his face. ‘I don’t know,’ he signed. ‘I’ve never tried before.’ The people who had been approaching stopped, looking falteringly between the two of them. Clearly, they had noticed the sign language, and now they slowly backed off. Matteusz frowned. If people were all like that, he could see why Charlie had such trouble with friendship. ‘You don’t have to say anything, they just go away on their own.’

Matteusz glared at the people who’d backed away. He didn’t feel like getting into an argument so early, before term had even started, but that just made him so angry. Charlie seemed like a genuinely nice person, though he didn’t know him too well yet, and to just go away without giving him a chance was cruel.

‘Are people always like this around you?’ Matteusz really hoped they weren’t, but Charlie’s sigh and dejected nod confirmed that apparently they were. He couldn’t imagine living like that all the time, but it seemed like Charlie didn’t have to imagine it. 

‘It’s mostly my fault because I can’t communicate with them properly and no one wants to write full conversations,’ he signed. Matteusz saw his point, but it was still incredibly rude to isolate someone just because talking to them took a little more time.  
‘I’m still sorry that you have to deal with them,’ he signed. ‘If it’s any consolation, I won’t be going anywhere.’

Charlie smiled a little at that. ‘So I have one friend, who’s paid to be with me? Excellent.’


End file.
